John woke up on the couch the next day. It was so unusual for him to wake up and immediately be able to see that he, for a moment, thought he was still dreaming. Then he had a look around and determined that he must have fallen asleep while gaming. Despite this, the television was shut off, as was the laptop attached to it, the controller was sitting orderly on the clean table and a thin blanket covered him. All of which were undoubtedly the work of the two maids.

Yesterday evening had gone as predicted. After a few more kisses, actually managing to keep their sexual urges in check for later, Rave and John had gone down to the club with a few other girls. It was a lot more to John’s liking than he had anticipated. Mostly because the music was actually at a level where one could still talk without having to scream. He had danced for a little bit with all of his girls, then retreated to the bar, where he got hit on by three girls and one guy.

He rejected all of them, but it was a nice confidence booster, if he ever needed those. It was also the first time somebody of the same sex had tried to approach him. Had been a bit weird, but he just gave a firm, ‘No, sorry, I am straight,’ and that topic was done with only a shot of vodka shared between them. A quick parting gift, some nice small talk, then John got to just sit there with Salamander and talk to her for a little bit.

It eventually drew the fire spirit back to the dancefloor, which was when John took his leave. He was just happy that her fire-based, scanty clothing burned at an unnatural cold by now. Still warm, but nowhere near hot enough that somebody could have burned themselves on her. Otherwise, her being in a crowd would have been a massive fire hazard.

Anyway, John went back to his room and let himself be pampered while he gamed the night away, right up until he must have blinked for a moment too long and just keeled over. He reached out with his mental connections to make sure it wasn’t the case that any of his drinks had been spiked and now everyone had been kidnapped or something. A purely paranoid assumption. From the kitchen echoed the rhythmic clacking of a sharp knife into a wooden board anyhow. It would take someone who was equally master chef and impersonator to get Aclysia’s work rhythm down to that degree.

‘Beatrice?’ he thought, not feeling like shouting at six in the morning; chances were that Rave was still in bed, sleeping the sleep of the tipsy drunk, probably cuddling with someone. The passive maid left the kitchen and walked towards her master at a steady pace, stopping once she was an arm’s length away. The intend was clearly to be in groping range. Naughty thing that she was.

“I am here to serve, Master.” Beatrice’s controlled voice was a wonderful thing to hear first thing in the morning. The visual of seeing her take that slight little bow, giving an eyes-closed, obedient expression in the process, only served to make John notice his morning wood with a fierce pulse of sudden awareness. Now that he thought about it, he actually hadn’t cum in 12 hours. There had only been cuddles and videogames in the evening.

Which, of course, were nice, but now the Gamer felt like he was seriously pent up. ‘Incredible how standards shift over time,’ he thought, then thought about it some more, ‘then again, I just shifted from solo to group activity. Really, the only thing that changed is the length of engagements and number of times I can cum...’

“Observation: you seem to realize that you lose so much time a day fucking that you could probably have conquered the world by now, would you limit yourself,” Beatrice delivered to him what he was just about to think. “Addendum: but what would such a life be, right, Master?”

Her neutral tone and emotionless face made it unclear whether she was being sarcastic or earnest with that last question. For someone who was able to peer into her mind, John found the answer to be both. “Don’t act like you don’t like it,” he challenged. “Not that you’re wrong on either front. Anyway, I should switch contacts and all that. Can you do me a favour and come into the bathroom with me?”

“Affirmative. I can be your partner for the morning quickie.”

“Maybe I just want you to come with because my shampoo is in your inventory?”

“Negative. Clarification: chance estimated at 0%. I can be your partner for the morning quickie.”

John just chuckled, and they quickly went through the morning routine. Halfway through the shower, Rave joined them, having somehow sensed that she was missing something fun, then they all went to the breakfast table together. Which was also the point at which they got dressed to some degree. If there was one reason to put clothes on, it was to prevent food that somehow fell off from dropping on his just cleaned body.

“Alright, Bae,” John said between two bites from the cream cheese covered bell pepper stripes that Aclysia presented to his face with all her devotion in every movement, “what’s on schedule today?”

“Nothing official,” Beatrice reported, standing at the short end of the table, looking at her phone. “You have set for yourself four hours to look through the city and visit larger barriers, should there be any. This activity is set to start in an hour.”

“Right,” John nodded along. “Thank god we have no tour guide for that one. If I have another of these average minded suits talk me around,” he chomped down on the second half of the currently presented bell pepper, “I will actually fall asleep walking.”

“Why’re ya doing that in the first place?” Rave wondered.

“Just checking how the actual people are living around here,” her boyfriend responded. “You know the usual stuff, getting my own impression of the people that I want to be part of Fusion, seeing whether they like the current system or not, letting everyone know that I’m not just hanging out with the elites, all that jazz. Also, I heard there are a few shops that have stuff that I want.”

“Oh?” Rave stretched, looking down on her chest in the process. “We might wanna visit a clothes shop while we’re at it. Need new bras.”

“Sure, we can do that,” John nodded, that wouldn’t be a detour in any capacity. “Not sure why you don’t have magically fitting ones in the first place.”

“Cause I’m not made of money and I got my size just fine.”

“Pretty sure your father was swimming in dollar bills.”

“Sure, but I could either spend what he gave me on cool stuff or underwear that I don’t even wear half the time,” she retorted, and John had to concede the point, making them turn back to Beatrice, who they looked at expectedly for quite a few seconds.

“Question: do you wish for me to continue?” the passive maid opened her mouth to say something unexpected. “You interrupted my report in the middle, I therefore assumed you didn’t want to hear the rest.”

“That’s a bit too much on the passive-aggressive side,” John pointed out.

Beatrice slightly tilted her head. “Interesting. Communications are confusing sometimes. I predicted that would still fall under friendly banter.”

“It kind of does, but it’s pushing it. Would work better if you went somewhere along the lines of: ‘can I assume your interruption has concluded, or do you wish to postpone the continuation until your bantering is done?’”

“Data saved,” Beatrice nodded and then awaited confirmation on actually going on. Giving her a simple nod, John licked some cream cheese off Aclysia’s index finger. “Information: you have received 57 requests for communication from outside parties, 52 from the locals, 4 from the Hudson Barrier and 1 from the Little Maryland. I have clarified that none of them are urgent and summarized their matters. I also prepared potential responses. Recommendation: take two hours after lunch to take care of these affairs.”

“Yeah, add it from 1 to 3 in the afternoon,” John agreed; if they left at eight and returned at around noon, that was an hour he could eat and fool around in before having to deal with anything else. “What’s after that? Aside from Lydia wanting me to call her today at four.”

“Most of your afternoon is empty,” Beatrice assured him. “Whether you decide to fill it with empty talks to bureaucrats or do more… fun…” a hint of seductiveness sneaked into her voice for a moment, but vanished again as she continued, “…things is up to you. In the evening, you have been requested to partake in an online meeting with Chemilia. In miscellaneous news, the Lake Alliance has released a report detailing Zensie’s side of the happenings during the events last week. A look over is recommended.”

“Alright, rather relaxed day then,” John said and, towards Aclysia, added, “could I have a bit of the pie now?”

“Certainly, my John,” Aclysia’s voice was an absolute swoon. Something about this morning apparently had her in a very good mood. This reached from making a breakfast that had an incredible amount of variety and effort to it, from her just humming little songs as she totally lost herself in being close to John. Now that she even forgot to call him ‘Master’, the Gamer couldn’t help but ask though.

“Did something really nice happen while I was asleep?” he asked.

“No,” she said that singular word with such utter sweetness that John almost felt like a child being pampered by his mother. It was a little bit creepy; for the most part he felt very appreciated however and that was nice. Regardless he wanted to know more.

“Why ya in such a good mood then, Aclysia?” Rave asked, looking a little envious that she had to eat by moving herself. “‘Cause ya look like I imagine Eliza is gonna look whenever she finally gets her kid.”

“I have simply come to a realization regarding this,” Aclysia tipped on John’s left middle finger and the Lover’s Will mark that was plainly visible there. “This mark that my John had put on him by marking his little pact with you, beloved Jane.”

“Okay?” Rave asked for John, who was just as confused. By sheer accident, Aclysia was keeping him from peering into her thoughts. When he steered his mental eye in the direction of her thoughts, he just saw an oppressive wall of tender love, and trying to find anything in there would have been like trying to swim through cotton candy that hugged him along the way while whispering how happy it was that he was there. Nice, yes, probably very relaxing all things considered, but not very productive.

“Whenever he gets another one through his Class,” Aclysia continued to swoon as she fed her master even more, her body brushing against his at every opportunity, “he will give it to me and then I will not only be marked by John, but he will also have something on his body that shows our connection.” A slight pause during which she blushed, almost moaning in a way that definitely had a more depraved aspect to it. “For everyone to see, forever on our bodies.”

“Yandere alert!” Rave shouted out loud. “Everyone hide the knives before she gets the idea that the best way to preserve her love for eternity is to cut off John’s head and cuddle it until she dies of thirst!”

“I wouldn’t do that!” Aclysia protested, forcefully snapped out of her loving trance. “The very notion that I would kill Master is absurd! That aside, monopolizing him runs against his desires and I have no intention to ever do such a thing, so you’re doubly wrong!”

Rave giggled, apparently feeling that the violent reaction that she got meant she had hit some sensitive area. “Still a lot of yan in that dere. Like, how do ya know ya gonna be the next one, if there even is another one.”

“Aburhahrhr,” that was the best way John could describe the series of shocked noises that left Aclysia’s mouth as it opened and closed repeatedly. “Certainly, I am the second favourite of the harem, but even if I am maybe the mark will have other effects, so it would maybe be better on others, but I am the second favourite and as such it logically should go to me, but the effects could be really useful on someone else and…”

Aclysia threatened to enter a logic spiral, something that hadn’t happened in quite a while. ‘Funny that some bugs never leave the system,’ John thought as he went for the universal restart switch and kissed her deeply until her flustered state calmed, signified by her hands reaching around his back as if she never wanted this to end. Still, it had to eventually. “Honestly, the way the mark is right now, it would go to you next,” he did assure her. “But you are right, if this turns out to be the condition for me being able to prolong the lives of other people I love, as Gaia has teased, it will go to Lydia instead.”

Brushing a silky strand of her straight-white hair behind her ear, he smiled at her to calm her down. Without further words, he simply reached out to her mind, and when she met his thoughts, he tried his best to erase the barriers between them. Their conjoined thoughts were stirred towards a simple revelation, being that they had all the time of their lives together to find something they could mark each other with, be it a spell or a ring.

“I love you, John” the weaponized maid whispered, before they kissed again.